SWAG

[+dorqie]

I seldom trade, I'm a less is more type. I trade geocoins and tbs but that's about it.

I have made a rather large cache container, and just can't seem to think of what to fill it with.

Most of the swag I find is just junk, but maybe people like junk, I have no idea....

Anyway...

your ideal starter swag would be...?

[+Chokecherry]

I like the occasional junk items. I found a great cache here which was just refilled with a Finnish themed stuff (a lot of people who live up here are Finn decendents). Very cool. I'm not Finn but I traded to get some stickers for some of my clients who are.

 

Personal favorite thing to find in caches and what I mostly look for are path tags.

[7inTulgeyWood]

I geocache with my kids and our tradition is to find "junk" that we place in a large glass vase. it serves as a bunch of tiny memories of our adventures. and then once in a while we get it down and look through it. My favorite things to find are cute, vintage miniatures, like old plastic people or animals, or miniature food. We have been placing these little tiny frying pans with either eggs, fish, or a steak frying in them. also some vintage snails and some coins from the Cayman Islands. I am all for the hunt, and it is a reward just to find the cache, but I wish others were trading a little better items than I see in lots, not just total junk. But hey, maybe that's another man's treasure. I make it a point to leave each cache with room to trade a little better than I found it and usually leave several items even if I only take one or none.

[+simpler1773]

Gently used books or CD's are always nice in a large cache.

 

I like going swag shopping at the thrift store, you can find unique and inexpensive items and it seems more like treasure than another plastic toy (no offense to the McToy people...hey my 5 yr old loves those ugly things!).

[+thistleRacers]

Me and my son (soon to be 6) are our team. He takes various things, but always something...it differs with his mood and what is in the cache. I liked the handmade knotted choker he got from a recent cache. I am like simpler1773, I get much of my swag from thrift stores and flea markets, but nothing I wouldn't want myself. little nicknacks, paper weights...this past weekend I was in a book store that had a bunch of items up front for .75¢ to $1 like a mini slinky, little box of neon clay...I picked up a few items there too.

 

I personally have traded for a small tin and a bracelet from a cause I support...I would take a cool nicknack too.

I don't expect to find more expensive swag that some people talk about. I like geocaching for the sport of it and I like the swag to encourage kiddo to go with me :-) (but now he is into it and ready to try some micros and nanos too :-)

[+gesharp]

These were some suggestions I found:

 

Flashlights

 

Smiley face pens, pencils & erasers

 

Wire puzzles

 

Keychains

 

Bouncy balls

 

Buttons

 

Pins

 

Keychains

 

I left a handcrafted bookmark in a cache I found behind the local library.

[Andronicus]

cool patches.

[+narcissa]

I like finding a dry logbook.

[newdiscovery]

I put a copy of River City Magazine in mine.

I thought a lot of people cache while traveling, so its to appease them tourists

[newdiscovery]

I put a copy of River City Magazine in mine.

I thought a lot of people cache while traveling, so its to appease them tourists

[newdiscovery]

edit

Edited May 19, 2010 by newdiscovery

[+BulldogBlitz]

I like finding a dry logbook.

 

same here....

 

or, if it is a necessity to have a wet logbook.... instructions on how to write on the sponge.

[+StarBrand]

Clean new things - whatever they are.

[+TreeSqueezers]

I like to rifle through sig items if there are any. I get a kick out of seeing familiar ones.

[+mospeed1]

brand new double A batterys are always nice to find

[drewmm]

brand new double A batterys are always nice to find

 

I've heard both that people like new batteries and hate new batteries. Anyone else have an opinion on this?

[+brslk]

brand new double A batterys are always nice to find

 

I've heard both that people like new batteries and hate new batteries. Anyone else have an opinion on this?

 

I have no problem with them and if I needed them i would swap for them.

[+Crafty Turtle]

brand new double A batterys are always nice to find

 

I've heard both that people like new batteries and hate new batteries. Anyone else have an opinion on this?

 

I have no problem with them and if I needed them i would swap for them.

 

I have removed and disposed of wet crusty dangerous looking batteries from caches. Would you put these batteries in your $600 GPS?

 

If they were guarenteed to be in perfect condition, then yeah, by all means, I love the batteries.

[evelwevel]

My husband and I put wooden nickels in all caches we find. The nickels have our business info on them and a big clover that represents our shop (Mr Lucky Tattoo)! We always leave one or two in a cache even if we dont take anything. I like finding the stuff that is personal. I found a signed baseball from a local pee-wee team. I thought it was cool! I never take the personal stuff because I want to share it with others still!

[+Desert_Trailblazers]

Clean new things - whatever they are.

 

I'll second this one. Either something useful for an adult (simple is fine... one we kept was a cute Christmas ornament) or something nice enough that we would feel comfortable using it as a trade item to pass on. And I'll say it again... stuff for adults!!! I'm so sick of finding rubber snakes!

[erinfey]

I came here today just to post about this particular topic. I am a newbie, but all we seem find is junky for the most part. I have found 3 coins and those are nice though not trackable. Neenerbeans comes with me, she is my daughter and partner in crime so to speak. Children say it best...When I said lets go to the dollar store to get some things to leave she said she didnt want to leave anything "nice" LOL when no one else was. Ahh out of the mouths of children. (Nice things from the dollar store) I dont think things need to be expensive, or even purchased at all but maybe they could be better thought out. Like, some rubbery type toys really degrade with heat, hmm cheap type gel pens kind of explode in heat and crack in cold. Ive found broken lego men, the base of a mcdonalds toy without the rest of the toy, wet scratched stickers, unidentifiable plastic things etc. So I have made an effort to start leaving some neater things. My daughter makes little GEO string bracelets, Ive left jewelry I made or neat beads. Weve left little toys, just ones that were not ruined. My daughters favorite find so far has been an old scratched up match box car. She loves it. See its scratched, but hey match box just has a cool factor! If we want to find a little better something, we need to leave a better something.

[+RatRunCrew]

not that I have found any, but homemade stuff would be great, I am currently finishing off a Maori hook or fern leaf carved from bone to pop inside one of my puzzle caches.. getting all excited by this!

[+simpler1773]

Dorqie, I think your idea in the other thread of knitting items is fabulous, just be sure to put it in a sealed baggie with a little note about it being handmade. I would trade for something of that nature in a heart beat! I sew, and have been thinking about the same idea. I make cloth reusable snack baggies (think fabric ziplock with velcro), cloth napkins, dolls, etc. I would love it if there were more handmade items in caches.

[daveindeal]

I never trade when im out on my own, but i do when Mini D.I.D is with me (4yrs old) and he normaly grabs a "Treasure" while im filling in the log, normaly its some kind of plastic toy that has taken his fancy and i normally replace with one of his previous toys that he stopped playing with.

 

But i do drop a sig chip into the caches (if they fit) which can be keeped or traded.

[+dorqie]

brand new double A batterys are always nice to find

I have also removed double a's from caches because they leak. even if they were new and in a package I still wouldn't trust them because I just don't know how long they've been in the heat/damp.